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Thursday, 29 May 2014

Prove that you're a human!

It leaves me stupefied at times that the guy who designated this stupid caption beneath the capthas din't have the perspicacity of coming up with anything better. While feebly acquainting the patrons with why such a procedure is required and how bots could wreak trouble, it's one of the most ludicrous of instructions in my opinion. You're human afterall and it's as if you need a technological approval, with your own predecessors being responsible for the technological renaissance, for you to assert your own categorization as a normal human being. It's a surreal oxymoron in one way.

While one may argue that creation of delirium or preventing absolute articulation to keep matters lucid could have been a motive, I just see this as an irony. The technological prowess has transcended such bounds that forged identities which could easily masquerade human form could be used to compromise systems we built to protect ourselves. And who build these fake gateways? Humans themselves! Finally, it's the humans once again who face the tough end of the bargain by being asked to prove their humanness at every single captcha encounter. Captchas may be outright necessary for the systems to remain from denial of service and other forms of internet warfare, but there should surely be a better way to say it than to ask you to "Prove that you're a human". On the other hand if I were a robot, I would have found the other version of designers' schism i.e "Prove that you're not a robot" equally offensive".